Monday, October 16, 2006

MY SPECIAL LIQUID DIET













I know you shouldn’t eat anything past a certain time in the evening, but I decided to snack on pretzels at 11:30 p.m. last night. My cut-off deadline for solid foods was midnight. I am now on a 24-hour clear liquid diet to ensure that my Right Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy procedure is successful. Here’s a list of what I can have throughout the day: Water (how come that doesn’t surprise me?), 7-up, ginger ale, apple juice, white grape juice, chicken or beef bouillon, tea or coffee (no milk) and all flavors of Jell-O except red or orange.

Then in the evening I have to drink four 8-ounce glasses of water and clear fruit juice. At 8 p.m. I have to drink 1 ½ fluid ounces (equivalent of 3 tablespoons) of Fleet phospho-soda in a 4-ounce glass of water. In case you’re wondering, Fleet phospho-soda is an oral saline laxative used for bowel cleansing before medical procedures. Yippee, ginger-lemon flavor too! One of the warnings on the box says “Do not use this product if you have serious kidney problems.” I guess my kidneys are fine. Hey, I’m just following the directions the hospital sent me.

Tomorrow is D-day. I’m still curious as to how the doc is going to deliver the shockwaves. Will it be warm bath water or will it be fiber optic tubing? My guess: fiber optic tubing down that long corridor to the kidney. As I commented to a male friend who told me about his bladder procedure, “Sounds like they tickled you compared to what they've done to me.” After the procedure I still have to pass those tiny little fragments through the stent. Wish me luck. If all goes well, the hospital will give me another pair of skid proof socks to help keep me on my feet.

11 comments:

jeannie said...

Good luck. Hope all goes shockingly well. Oh that was bad....sorry - it's early

EmBee said...

So now I'm curious... Why not red or orange jell-o? If we're thinking in terms of spectrum here, wouldn't yellow jell-o also be considered a no-no? And purple jell-o? That has red in it, doesn't it? Wait, do they even make purple jell-o?

Love the non-skid socks... I have a blue pair from my surgery last year, but mine say 'Union Hospital' across the bottom... Maybe a non-skid sock blogger fashion show is in order?!

Good luck with the procedure and choose your jell-o wisely! ;-)

JLCGULL said...

Good luck,and remember to fly high wherever you go.;)flipflipflip

Erik Donald France said...

Good luck, man! Ramadan fasting sounds easier than your special prep. Good health, cheers

Anonymous said...

Is this the before picture and will you post an after picture?
You look raring to go here. See you when I see you. Just tickled.
MW. :-D

Anonymous said...

Jim, Good luck on your procedure and hope everything goes well. I don't know why you can't eat the specific colored jell-o's but I'm you'll drink enough water to make up for it. Nice socks etc... --Bro, Ron

Anonymous said...

Jim, I forgot to mention, while today was the 3M U.S. population, looks like you're working on the 3K blogging point on your blog. I know, crawl before you can run. --Bro, Ron

Jo said...

Good luck with the procedure, JR. I used to work in the nephrology section of VGH, and I know you are going to be fine.

And besides, who wants to eat red or orange jello anyway? In fact, who wants to eat jello?

Let us know how you do.

Cheers,
Josie

JR's Thumbprints said...

Hey unsigned "make extra cash" anonymous, would you like to purchase some stones? I'll give you a deal, two for one.

Anonymous said...

Jim, You might as well give them away to the unsigned dealer to his or her's collection. --Bro, Ron

zuke said...

Come and check it out if you get time :-)###BREAK###